SOFIA (AP) - An alleged Bulgarian underworld boss was killed and his driver was wounded yesterday in a mafia-style shooting in downtown Sofia, officials said. Ivan Todorov, who had been repeatedly investigated for various crimes and was suspected of running a smuggling network, was shot to death in his Porsche sports utility vehicle, prosecutor Nikolai Kokinov told state radio.

SOFIA (AP) - Bulgaria’s Parliament yesterday endorsed a government decision to send a 120-member non-combat unit to Iraq. The resolution opens the way for Bulgaria’s return to the multinational forces in Iraq after the withdrawal of its troops in December.

Three-hundred Bosnian miners have launched a hunger strike at the bottom of a mine as part of wider industrial action over low wages and non-existent health insurance, a trade union leader said yesterday. At least 1,300 workers from the central Breza coal mine “went on strike on Tuesday demanding increases in salary to at least 400 convertible marks (205 euros, 245 dollars),” the president of Bosnia’s Association of Independent Trade Unions, Edhem Biber, told AFP. (AFP)

Heavy rains in Albania flooded a northern town yesterday, cutting off power in some areas and forcing schools to close, authorities said. No injuries were reported. Flooding affected about one-third of Lezha, 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of the capital, Tirana, Mayor Gjok Jaku said. (AP)

Slobodan Milosevic asked the UN war crimes tribunal yesterday to speed a decision on his request for provisional release to go to Russia for medical treatment, saying his health was worsening. “I have a lot of noise in my head,” the former Yugoslav president told the Hague court. Milosevic’s heart condition and high blood pressure have repeatedly interrupted his trial. (Reuters)